Frank Eaves Mershon

January 21, 2007

KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Frank Eaves Mershon died Jan. 19, 2007, at his home in Knoxville, Tenn.

He was born May 20, 1922, in Nashville, Tenn., the son of Frank Warfield Mershon and Verna Eaves Mershon. He graduated from West End High School in Nashville in 1940 and graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1948 following military service in World War II. While at Georgia Tech, he participated in the co-op work/study program and was a member of Pi Tau Sigma, the honorary mechanical engineering fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, the national service fraternity, and the Sigma Chi social fraternity.

During World War II, Frank was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Air Reserve, and piloted P-40 fighters and B-24 and B-29 bombers, among other aircraft, on stateside training assignments until his discharge in December, 1945. He also served during the Korean War with the 13th Fighter-Bomber Wing, Texas Air National Guard, where he achieved the rank of Captain and flew F-84E Thunderjets in 100 combat missions, including missions as far north as MiG Alley and the Yalu River.

Following his graduation from Georgia Tech, he joined the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, later the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Hampton. He retired in October, 1980 as Assistant Chief of the Research Facilities Engineering Division after a 32- year career. During his tenure at NASA, Frank's most memorable and rewarding projects were the Little Joe Project, an astronaut escape system developed in support of Project Mercury's "first man in space" program, and the "Project Viking" Mars landing.

Frank's hobbies were fishing, skiing, model aviation and tinkering in his workshop and garage. He had a life-long enjoyment of model aviation, and was a member of the Brainbuster Free Flight Club, a model airplane club founded in 1942.

Frank was a resident of the Peninsula for over 55 years, until he moved to Knoxville to an assisted living facility near his daughter in 2005, and lived in Newport News for the last 50 of these years. He was a member of Grace United Methodist Church, where he served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and was a member of the Warwick Yacht Club and the James River Country Club.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife of 60 years, Rose Jones Mershon.

Frank is survived by his children, John Hays Mershon and wife, Anna, of Atlanta, Ga., Stephen Frank Mershon of Maplewood, N.J., Nancy Mershon Moore and husband, Bill, of Knoxville, Tenn.; his grandchildren, Ryan Davis Moore and Alan Joseph Moore of Knoxville, Tenn.; his sister, Virginia Mershon Holladay of Nashville, Tenn.; cousins, nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews; and many loving friends.

Funeral services will be held at Grace United Methodist Church on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m. and the family will receive friends in the church chapel commencing one hour before the services. Burial will follow at Peninsula Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Grace United Methodist Church, 1209 Country Club Road, Newport News, VA 23606, or to the American Diabetes Association, 870 Greenbrier Circle, Greenbrier Tower II, Suite 404, Chesapeake, VA 23320.